The present invention relates to cementing operations, and, in certain embodiments, to cement compositions that comprise stevia retarders and associated methods.
Hydraulic cement compositions commonly are utilized in surface and subterranean cementing operations. Examples of subterranean cementing operations include, for example, subterranean well completion and remedial operations. For example, cement compositions may be used in primary cementing operations whereby pipe strings such as casings and liners are cemented in well bores. In primary cementing operations, cement compositions may be pumped into the annular space between the walls of a well bore and the exterior surface of a pipe string disposed therein. The cement composition is permitted to set in the annular space, thereby forming an annular sheath of hardened substantially impermeable cement in the annular space that supports and positions the pipe string in the well bore and bonds the exterior surface of the pipe string to the walls of the well bore. Cement compositions also are used in remedial cementing operations such as plugging highly permeable zones or fractures in well bores, plugging cracks and holes in pipe strings, and the like.
Subterranean cementing operations generally occur under a wide variety of well bore conditions, for example, ranging from shallow wells (less than about 1,000 feet) to extremely deep wells (greater than about 35,000 feet). As used herein, a cement composition is considered pumpable when it has a yield point less than 100 Pa and a plastic viscosity less than 500 cp, whereby yield point and plastic viscosity are defined via the conventional Bingham Plastic viscosity model (see pages 15-18, Rheology Methods in Food Processing Engineering, by James F. Steffe, Freeman Press, 2807 Still Valley Dr., East Lansing Mich., 48823. USA, ISBN #0-9632036-0-6). Conventional set retarder compositions often have been included in cement compositions, so as to retard the set time of the cement composition until the cement composition has reached its ultimate location within the subterranean formation. Examples of conventional set retarder compositions commonly used in cementing operations for delaying the set time of a cement composition, include, for example, lignosulfonates, organic acids, phosphonic acid derivatives, synthetic polymers (e.g., copolymers of 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (“AMPS”) and unsaturated carboxylic acids), inorganic borate salts, and combinations thereof. However, conventional set retarder compositions such as those described above may be costly and problematic in some instances. For example, conventional set retarder compositions often undesirably may slow the development of a cement's compressive strength. Furthermore, conventional set retarder compositions may affect gas-migration-control properties, and may not be suitable for use in certain applications.